Posts Tagged ‘HIPAA Chart Holders’

Chart holders are an important part of medical facilities, hospitals, doctors’ offices and more. They are used to hold client and patient information while making it easily accessible. With HIPAA, this information has to be properly protected. A few days ago a customer asked me if clear chart holders are HIPAA compliant. This was my response.

In order for a chart holder to be HIPAA compliant, sensitive contents cannot be visible. By nature, clear chart holders are designed to make data easy to see. This, unfortunately, means that clear chart holders are not HIPAA compliant.

You could make a clear chart holder compliant by including an insert that hides the contained charts, or by frosting it, but that may be more hassle than it’s worth. I would personally steer clear of any “clear” chart holders. There is too much room for error and you don’t want to be responsible for a leaked client / patient information.

Most clear chart holders are in fact clear magazine holders that were never intended to hold sensitive charts. HIPAA compliant chart holders are almost always made of wood with a solid wood front.

Keeping a patient’s information secure and out of view is more important now than ever. This is due in part to the rampant increase in identity theft and because it is now the law. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) even requires that X-Rays be properly covered and secure as well.

HIPAA has been around since 1996, but several decades ago medical information and data could be left on a desk or pinned to a board without any worry. Not only is medical information an identity theft risk, but it is also a privacy risk. Nobody wants a stranger seeing your medical information.

Patient privacy is a big deal, due in large part to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996). Not only do unused patient documents need to be destroyed, but active patient documents need to be protected as well. Gone are the days of clear plastic chart holders in medical facilities, hospitals and doctors’ offices.

Chart holders now have to have the front panel be completely blocked. This is done to protect patient privacy and prevents random people from seeing this data. Most of these chart holders are made out of wood. The chart holder pocket is deep enough to protect the data, but still allows tabs to be visible for easy access.

ABC Office carries over a dozen different HIPAA compliant chart holders. These chart holders include standard wood chart holders, open ended chart holders and deep pocket chart holders. These chart holders include all necessary mounting hardware and are available in different wood stains. Most of ABC Office’s chart holders will fit right in with existing furniture.